#MS-DOS
Don – For certain programs, perhaps the claims you heard are accurate. For
AutoCAD as a whole, however, such does not appear to be the case. AutoCAD is
already using inline floating-point code. The benefits I see to making a
386/387-specific version would be a slight reduction in code size and a
slight speed increase as the result of removal of the "wait" instructions
needed for the 8087, and the (possible) use of the 80387's trig functions.
However, none of this assists in the I/O area, or in integer calculations,
both of which are also high on AutoCAD's execution profile. We'll consider
creating a 386/387-specific version, but (unless we were to drop the older
machines — and I DON'T THINK WE'RE READY FOR THAT) the pros don't appear to
outweigh the cons at the moment. The biggest problem: this would be a "new
machine build" from the standpoint of our Build and QA groups, doubling the
testing time for the DOS versions of AutoCAD (at least the first time).
.